Christine (film) | Stephen King Wiki | Fandom powered by Wikia Christine is a 1983 film adaptation of Stephen King's novel of the same name . It was directed by horror legend John Carpenter of Halloween and Escape from New York, who also composed the score. Despite mixed reviews from critics upon its release, it has developed a cult following, and is generally regarded by fans as one of the better adaptations of King's novels. The film was released to theaters on December 9, 1983. On the same day as the release of "Scarface". Contents [ show ] Plot The film begins in 1958, on a Plymoth automobile assembly line at a plant in Detroit, Michigan. One car , a Red Plymoth Fury, is being inspected by a man when its hood falls on his hand, crushing it. A man goes inside the car to inspect it, but is killed somehow when an ash from his cigar falls on the seat. Twenty years later in 1978, a high school dork named Arnie Cunningham purchases the same car for $250 from Roland LeBay, who calls her "Christine".

The car is cheap, wrecked, and is in need of serious repair. Dennis, Arnie's Jock friend, does not like Christine, and advises him against purchasing it for a first car. But Arnie buys it anyway, much to the dismay of his parents, and they get into a heated debate. Arnie stores it at Darnell's, a do-it-yourself garage and junkyard located outside of town. The ill-tempered owner Will Darnell, distrusts both Arnie and Dennis, and is mean to them. Arnie fixes up Christine over time, and the car becomes his obsession. He starts driving it everywhere, and even gets Leigh Cabot to be his girlfriend, much to the dismay of Dennis. Arnie becomes humorless and arrogant, but also assertive and cruel. Christine is destroyed by Buddy Repperton and his gang, who want revenge for Buddy being expelled because Arnie told a teacher that Buddy threatened him with a switchblade. After Christine's destruction, Arnie angrily blames Leigh for it, and fights verbally and even physically with his parents.

Arnie frantically attempts to fix the car again, but the car rebuilds itself in front of him, in a manner similar to a striptease. Christine goes after Repperton's gang, killing them all one by one, all the while playing ironic oldies music. Each time Christine commits a murder, she restores herself so there is no evidence of what she has done. At the end, Repperton himself is killed when Christi Christine on fire from the movie. ne smashes through a gas station and blows it up. Christine chases Buddy while on fire and drives over him, leaving his flaming body in the middle of the country road. Christine pulls into Darnell's, and Darnell is suspicious. He grabs a gun and goes inside Christine. Christine crushes him with the seat. Finally, Dennis carves Darnell's Tonight into her hood and waits at Darnell's that night inside a bulldozer. Christine chases Leigh around the garage while Dennis attempts to start the bulldozer. Arnie is thrown from the car when Christine crashes, with a large glass shard sticking out of his stomach. Arnie dies, and Christine goes after them with a vengeance.

He gets the machine running and destroys Christine before she can rebuild herself. She is fed into a car crusher, which compacts Christine into a cube. At the end, Dennis and Leigh look over the destroyed wreckage of Christine, as they hear that oldies' music playing. However, it is not Christine, only a boombox. As Leigh is saying that she hates rock and roll, a piece of Christine's fender slowly begins to bend into a mock smile, implying that Christine's consciousness is still intact. Christine is still alive to some degree. Cast Production One of the 1958 red Plymoth Furys used to portray Christine in the film. There were 14 Red Plymouth Furies used to portray Christine in the film. The film had a very extensive budget of $9,700,000, and is notorious for destroying so many cars during production, by fire, or by hand. John Carpenter also composed the musical score for the film. The film was too light to be rated R, so at the time of its release, it would have been rated PG. (The PG-13 rating didn't exist yet) So, the producers added the word 'fuck' multiple times so more people would see the film.

Christine's liscense plate is yellow and says CQB, which means Close Quarters Battle, where it is a duel between two people, and one is obviously overpowered, with little chance of escape. Errors In the scene where Buddy and his gang trash Christine before denting the engine Buddy grabs the bonnet and throws it up with such force that he throws the bonnet off and away. But when Christine shows her regenerative powers to Arnie her bonnet miraciously comes back. After Christine crushes Richie against the wall and Don backs away after Buddy's camaro leaks gasoline there is a car on a hoist. But when the gas station blows up it is on the ground. There is no engine under Buddy's camaro when Christine crashes into it. 1958 plymouth furies did not have door lock buttons as depicted in the film. When Leigh visits Arnie's hair is slightly wet. But later on it is instantly drenched. There are casters under another car in the garage. Differences from the novel In the book after the fight it is Arnie Cunningham who helps Dennis up but in the film it is Mr.

Casey The dialogue before and after the fight is much longer in the novel In the novel Arnie says that Buddy snatches his lunchbag and steps on it which starts the fight but in the film it is started when Buddy takes a switchblade, pierces the bag and spills the contents on the floor. In the film the fight is very short In the book it is said that Buddy Repperton likes to do things "three on two." But in the film it is said he likes to do things "three on one" Buddy kicks away the Switchblade in the book but in the film he leaves after swearing revenge on Arnie In the book Don Vandenberg is the last member of Buddy's gang to die but in the film Buddy is the last to die Moochie is killed in the novel after Christine runs over him about 20 times but in the film he dies after being crushed Richie Trelawney and Don Vandenberg both die at the same time and die in the same way although Richie gets crushed but his body is destroyed in the explosion that kills Don. Arnie Cunningham dies in a car accident in the novel but in the film he dies after being impaled on a broken windscreen shard.

In the novel, Christine is a four-door (despite the 1958 model year wasn't made as a four-door). In the film, Christine is a two door. In the novel, Detective Rudy Junkins is killed by Christine. In the film, he is alive and with Leigh and Dennis staring at the cube that is Christine. In the novel, Dennis has a 1975 Plymouth Duster. In the film, Dennis has a 1968 Dodge Charger Christine | Stephen King Wiki | Fandom powered by Wikia [ show ] Plot While driving home from work, Dennis Guilder and Arnie Cunningham drive past Christine , a dilapidated 1958 red and white Plymouth Fury . Arnie makes Dennis stop his car, and examines the car. The car's owner, Roland D. LeBay , an elderly gentleman in a truss, comes out onto the lawn, and offers the car to Arnie for $250. Unable to pay the full amount, he settles on a $25 deposit and agrees to return the next day with the balance. Arnie and Dennis return the following day, and LeBay invites Arnie into his house to sign the paperwork.

While waiting for Arnie, Dennis decides to sit inside Christine, and as he does, he has a vision of the car and the surroundings as they were in 1957 when the car was new. Frightened, Dennis gets out of Christine, and decides that he does not like Arnie's new car. Arnie brings Christine to Darnell's , a local do-it-yourself auto repair facility. As Arnie restores the automobile, he becomes withdrawn, yet more confident and self-assured. He becomes humorless and cynical. Dennis is scared of these changes, and of Christine's changes. The car is repaired haphazardly, and not all of the repairs seem to be done by Arnie. No one has ever witnessed him performing more than minor repairs and routine maintenance on the car. Also, Arnie's appearance improves in tandem with Christine's. When Roland LeBay dies, Dennis meets his younger brother, George, who relates to him Roland's past violent behavior. He is also told that Roland's young daughter choked to death on a hamburger in the back of the car, and then Roland's wife, traumatized by this death, apparently committed suicide in the car by carbon monoxide poisoning.

Dennis's further investigations with others around town who had known Roland confirm to him that Arnie's new personality is becoming like that of his car's former owner. When Arnie is almost finished restoring Christine, Leigh Cabot transfers to his school. Leigh is instantly popular and regarded as the most beautiful girl in school. It is a surprise to everyone when she decides to go out with Arnie. While on a date with Arnie, Leigh almost chokes to death on a hamburger. Leigh is certain that Christine was behind it, and when Arnie attempts to save her by hitting her on the back she notices that the dashboard lights on Christine seem to have turned into glaring green eyes. Leigh is saved from death by a hitchhiker, who pulls her from the car and administers the Heimlich Maneuver. Despite Arnie's protestations, Leigh continues to feel as though she is competing with Christine for Arnie's affection. Arnie brings Christine home from Darnell's, but his mother, who hates the car, tells him that he cannot park it at the house.

Arnie's father, Michael, takes a drive with his son and treats him to a 30-day parking pass at the local airport, thinking Arnie will only use his car when absolutely necessary. Soon after Arnie begins parking at the airport, Buddy Repperton , a vicious bully who Arnie and Dennis got expelled earlier in the story, visits Christine with his gang of thugs and severely vandalizes the car. Seeing Christine destroyed completely infuriates Arnie, resulting in the severance of his relationship with Leigh. Mysterious murders occur in Libertyville. One by one, members of Buddy's gang are killed by Christine. Others who were hostile to Arnie or Christine also die. The police investigate the murders and become suspicious of Arnie. However, Arnie has an airtight alibi for each of the murders, since the car apparently acts on its own. Although the police find paint chips at the crime scenes that match Christine's color, they find no damage, bloodstains, or other evidence on the car, since Christine supernaturally repairs herself after each attack. Dennis and Leigh become suspicious not of Arnie, but of Christine. They try to find out as much as they can about the car and its previous owner.

As their suspicions grow, they try to destroy the supernatural forces that appear to be in control of Christine and Arnie. The novel ends on an ambiguous note. Arnie's father is found dead in Christine, apparently from exhaust fumes. Arnie and his mother die in an auto accident: witnesses to the accident saw three people in the car before the crash, but only two bodies were found. In the meantime, Dennis and Leigh manage to destroy Christine in Darnell's using a huge, pink-coloured septic tanker truck, named Petunia, and Dennis is informed by a police detective that the remains were fed into the crusher in the back of the garage by two police officers, adding that one received a bad cut that needed stitches, and said "it bit him". Dennis ends the story proper with a salutation to his friend: In the epilogue, set about four years later, Dennis reports that he and Leigh attended college together, consummated their relationship ("very satisfactorily"), but ultimately went their separate ways. Dennis is a teacher in New Jersey, Leigh a housewife in New Mexico.

The last page details that, in Los Angeles, Sandy Galton (one of Buddy's gang) has died a mysterious death when a car burst through the wall of the theater where he was working, instantly killing him. The final words of the book convey Dennis' horror as he contemplates the possibility that Christine repaired herself and pursued him, and now may be working her way east, targeting Leigh and LeBay's brother and sister, saving Dennis for last. Adaptation The story was adapted into a film in 1983. Audiobook The audiobook version of Christine was read by Holter Graham, who played the part of Deke Keller in Maximum Overdrive . StephenKing.com - Christine Christine First Edition Release Date:April, 1983 Synopsis: A love triangle involving 17-year-old misfit Arnie Cunningham, his new girlfriend and a haunted 1958 Plymouth Fury. Dubbed Christine by her previous owner, Arnie's first car is jealous, possessive and deadly. comments powered by Disqus You appear to be using Internet Explorer 7 or earlier. Please consider updating your browser at Microsoft's site , or trying a different browser such as Firefox , Opera or Chrome .

<p>Your browser does not support iframes.</p> Copyright © 2000 - 2017 Stephen King - All Rights Reserved. Contents of this site including text and media may not be reproduced without prior written consent. Audio and video elements of this site are property of their respective owners and are used with permission. Christine (Stephen King) | Villains Wiki | Fandom powered by Wikia Hunt down those who tormented her owner Arnie Cunningham. Kill Dennis Guilder and Leigh and then all who came up against her. Type of Villain Serial Killer, Corrupting Influence, Lover Stealer Christine is a possessed red 1958 Plymouth Fury vintage vehicle with a life of her own and the titular main antagonist of the Stephen King novel of the same name Christine as well as its famous 1983 horror movie adaptation of the same name directed by famous horror master John Carpenter. Despite being a vehicle, Christine is often referred to as a female and seems to have the mannerisms of a mean-spirited girlfriend when it comes to her new owners. Contents [ show ] Plot In the original novel and film, Christine kills anyone who torments her new owner, Arnold Richard "Arnie" Cunningham .

The relationship between the two becoming more and more disturbing as the car's corruption took control, turning him away from everyone including his own 2 parents Michael and Regina Cunningham. In the end Christine's owner was killed and she seemed to express a moment of genuine grief over his passing before attempting to kill the other two protagonists of the movie named Dennis Guilder and Leigh Cabot. The film also shows her killing both an assembly line inspector and the manager Mr. Will Darnell of his do-it-yourself auto-repair garage by crushing them against the steering wheel with her seat, the former due to dropping cigar ash on her seat. (In the book, the inspector does not appear and the garage owner Darnell is run down when Christine drives into his home.) Another scene occurs when Arnie's girlfriend Leigh begins to choke on a hamburger and Christine attempts to entrap her within the cab by locking the doors and such. However they fought back against her and did great damage to the car, however Christine rapidly repaired herself and the heroes were forced to crush the car completely to stop her returning, however at the end of the movie the audience sees Christine slowly trying to repair herself, despite being completely destroyed, although she remains in her crushed state.

In the original novel, however, Dennis is led to believe that Christine has made a return when he reads of the death of the surviving Repperton gang member getting run down at a drive-in theater by a red car. Thus, it is hinted that Christine has survived. Roland D. LeBay In the original novel, Christine is accompanied by the spirit of her previous owner, George LeBay's late brother and retired American WWII-veteran Roland D. LeBay, whose role is greatly nonexistent in the film adaptation, who aids her in the murders of the Repperton Gang , particularly taunting the gang leader Buddy as he kills him. Before his suicide by exhaust fumes inside Christine, his 5-year old daughter Rita LeBay choked on a small hamburger while sitting in that same car, and his wife Veronica ("Rita" in the film adaption), after being broken the tragedy of their only child, soon died from carbon monoxide poisoning in the similar suicidal fashion as her callous husband Roland later had. He is also implied to have been responsible for somehow causing the deaths of Arnie and his mother Regina as they attempted to flee in another car. When confronted, LeBay and Christine come with Arnie's father Michael dead.

Following Christine's defeat, LeBay seems to be taken out in the process. Victims Rita LeBay - Choked to death by Christine. Veronica LeBay (also known as "Rita Lebay" in the film) - Choked to by Christine. Roland D. LeBay - Choked to death by Christine. Tommy Deckinger - Murdered by Christine. Police Officer - Killed in the car chair by Christine. Moochie Welch - Crushed by Christine. Richie Trelawney - Hit/crushed with car/blown up by Christine. Don Vandenberg - Explosion house by Christine. Buddy Repperton - Burned alive by Christine. Will Darnell - Crushed by Christine. Regina Cunningham - Murdered by Christine. Michael Cunningham - Murdered by Christine. Add a photo to this gallery Trivia She, along with Cujo makes a cameo appearance in the film Cat's Eye, where Cujo is shown chasing the film's titular cat General. Christine is a 1958 Plymouth Fury. It has a bumper sticker that reads: "Watch out. I am pure evil. I am Christine". While not openly mentioned, Christine appears in The Stand: The Complete & Uncut Edition.

While attempting to return to Boulder Tom and Stu come across a "very old Plymouth". Unlike most of the other cars the two men came across, this one had no driver behind the wheel. The key fob bares the initials "A.C.", an obvious nod to the late Arnie Cunningham. She also appears unnamed appearance in Stephen King's It, driven by a cadaverical Belch Huggins (one of the many disguises of Pennywise/It ) who helps Henry Bowers to reach the hotel where The Loser's Club/Lucky Seven members are. Stephen King on Christine ON CHRISTINE When Stephen King agreed to this interview [CONDUCTED IN 1984], he had not yet seen the movie Christine, and was therefore, understandably, not willing to comment on the film. He was, however, happy to talk about his novel and his own feelings about the fifties. LOFFICIER: It doesn't seem that Christine fits into your usual fictional "universe" of Maine or New England towns like Castle Rock, 'Salem's Lot, etc...

Stephen KING: No, it doesn't, although there is some reference made to the fact that Arnie Cunningham, on some of his fireworks runs for Will Darnell, goes through the town of Stovington, Vermont, which is where Jack Torrance from The Shining taught, and where the plague center was in The Stand. The thing is that it takes place in Pittsburgh [Christine is dedicated to famous Pittsburgh filmmaker George Romero, for whom King wrote Creepshow.], which is so far from the New England setting of the other stories. The books that I've written have been located either in Maine or in Colorado for the most part. Lofficier: There is a picture of you with a Plymouth Fury on the book's dust jacket. Do you have a Christine? King: No, that car actually was loaned to us by a Pennsylvania outfit that handles vintage cars for movies. They ran the car over the New Jersey line, just like in a Springsteen song. We did this photograph session almost like a rock-and-roll album cover. The photographer, whose name was Andy Unangst liked the car so much that he bought it! Lofficier: Why did you pick a 1958 Fury as your subject?

King: Because they're almost totally forgotten cars. They were the most mundane fifties car that I could remember. I didn't want a car that already had a legend attached to it like the fifties Thunderbird, the Ford Galaxies etc... You know how these things grow. Some of the Chevrolets, for example, were supposed to have been legendary door-suckers. On the other hand, nobody ever talked about the Plymouth products, and I thought, "Well..." Besides, Lee Iacocca gave me a million bucks! Seriously, I don't know how Chrysler feels about Christine, anymore than I know how the Ford Company feels about Cujo, in which a woman is stranded in a Pinto. But they should feel happy, because it's a pretty lively car and it lasts a long time. It's like a Timex watch, it takes a licking and goes on ticking. Lofficier: It's difficult to tell from reading the book whether Christine is evil herself, or whether Le Bay makes her evil. From what source do you see the evil emanating? King: That's one of the questions with which the movie people started to wrestle. Was it Le Bay, or was it the car?

I understand that their answer is that it was the car. In fact, it may be -- and I'm just guessing -- that Le Bay isn't anywhere near as sinister as he is in the book. I think that, in the book, there is the suggestion that it's probably Le Bay, rather than the car. When the film people came to me, I said, "Look, this is your decision. You decide what you're going to do with the story." But, later, I was told that in the opening sequence, when the car rolls off the assembly line, one of the workman is dead behind the wheel. This would give you the idea that the car was bad from the beginning... Lofficier: You seem to bring up the fifties a lot in your work, and have a great deal of nostalgia about the times... King: Sure. I grew up in the fifties. That's my generation. I think there's been a fair amount of that from writers whom I would say are now the "establishment." When I started writing, with Carrie, I was twenty-four, twenty-five, something like that. I was a kid.

Since then, ten years have gone by, and 1947 has become a very respectable birth year for writers. So, there are a lot of us who actually developed our understanding of life, and who grew to be, not adults, but thinking human beings in the fifties. I've got a lot of good memories from the fifties. Somebody once said that, "Life was the rise of consciousness." For me, rock-and-roll was the rise of consciousness. It was like a big sun bursting over my life. That's when I really started to live, and that was brought on by the music of the fifties. Lofficier: Do you have any more macabre memories of the fifties? King: No, I don't. All the macabre things that I can remember, and that come out of reality, rather than from something that I made up, started with the Kennedy assasination in 1963. I don't have any bad memories of the fifties. Everything was asleep.

There was stuff going on, there was uneasiness about the bomb, but, on the whole, I'd have to say that people in the fifties were pretty loose. Lofficier: Do the horror aspects of your writing come from having read E.C. comics and that type of thing? King: Oh, God knows! Some of it has to, sure, because those comics really grossed me out when I was a kid, and they also fired my imagination. They were two different ways in which those things have become really important to me in what I do. The gross-out business isn't nearly as important to me as just sort of flipping people out, so that they say, "Jeez! This car's running by itself!" Christine is an outrageous kind of riff on one cord. I mean, this car's out there running by itself and getting younger! It's actually going back in time. An audience can relate to a certain degree to something like a haunted house, The Amityville Horror, traditional horrors like ghosts, vampires and things like that. You give them a car, or any inanimate object, and you're suggesting something that is either along the pulpy lines of the E.C.

comics, or else obviously symbolic. The car is a symbol for the technological age, or for the end of innocence, when it plays such a part in adolescence and growing up. When you do that, you're really starting to take a risk. But, that's also where the excitement is. If you can make somebody go along with that concept, that's really wonderful. Lofficier: Do you consciously try to put something a little more subliminal into your work? King: No, never subliminal. I think it should be out there where anybody can see it. I don't believe in the idea that symbolism, or theme should be coded so that only college graduates can read it. The only thing that that type of self-conscious literature is good for is for people to dissect it and use it to get graduate degrees or write doctoral thesis. Theme and symbol are a very strong and valid part of literature, and there's no reason not to put them right out front. Lofficier: Why was Christine written using two different narrative styles, Denny's first person narrative for the opening and closing parts, and third person narrative for the middle? King: Because I got in a box. That's really the only reason.

It almost killed the book. It sat on a shelf for a long time while I walked around in sort of a daze and said, "You know, this is really cute. How did you do this!" It was like when you paint a room, and you really do end up in a corner saying, "Aw, heck! Look what I did! There's no door at this end of the room!" I had Dennis telling the story, and he was supposed to tell the whole story. But then he got in a football accident, and was in the hospital while things were going on that he couldn't see. Then, for a long time, I tried to narrate that second part in terms of what he was hearing, hearsay evidence, almost like depositions. But that didn't work. I tried to do it a number of different ways, and finally I said, "Let's cut through it. The only way to do this, is to do it in the third person." I tried to leave enough clues, so that when the reader comes out of it he'll feel that it's almost like Dennis pulling a Truman Capote. It's almost like a non-fiction novel.

I think that it's still a first-person narration, and if you read that second part over, you'll see it. It's just masked, like reportage. Lofficier: Do you plan on doing a Christine II, with the car coming back across country? King: God, I don't want to go back through that again! Once was enough! All I can think of would be if the parts are recycled, you'd end up with this sort of homicidal Cuisinart, or something like that! That would be kind of nice! Interview © 2001 Randy Lofficier Christine (1983) - IMDb IMDb 17 January 2017 4:34 PM, UTC NEWS There was an error trying to load your rating for this title. Some parts of this page won't work property. Please reload or try later. X Beta I'm Watching This! Keep track of everything you watch; tell your friends. Error A nerdish boy buys a strange car with an evil mind of its own and his nature starts to change to reflect it.

Director: From $2.99 (SD) on Amazon Video ON DISC a list of 37 titles created 15 Nov 2010 a list of 45 titles created 03 May 2011 a list of 26 titles created 09 Jun 2011 a list of 32 titles created 02 Aug 2012 a list of 33 titles created 1 month ago Search for " Christine " on Amazon.com Connect with IMDb Want to share IMDb's rating on your own site? Use the HTML below. You must be a registered user to use the IMDb rating plugin. Legend says that Antonio Bay was built in 1880 with blood money obtained from shipwrecked lepers, which no one believes. On the eve of the town's centennial, many plan to attend the celebrations, including the murdered lepers. Director: John Carpenter A police sergeant and an unlikely band of criminals defend a closing LA precinct office on New Years Eve against an army of gang members. Director: John Carpenter A research team finds a mysterious cylinder in a deserted church. If opened, it could mean the end of the world.

Director: John Carpenter An alien takes the form of a young widow's husband and asks her to drive him from Wisconsin to Arizona. The government tries to stop them. Director: John Carpenter Cujo, a friendly St. Bernard, contracts rabies and conducts a reign of terror on a small American town. Director: Lewis Teague Recovering from an ambush that killed his entire team, a vengeful vampire slayer must retrieve an ancient Catholic relic that, should it be acquired by vampires, will allow them to walk in sunlight. Director: John Carpenter In 1997, when the U.S. president crashes into Manhattan, now a giant maximum security prison, a convicted bank robber is sent in to rescue him. Director: John Carpenter Behind a young family's home in Maine is a terrible secret that holds the power of life after death. When tragedy strikes, the threat of that power soon becomes undeniable. Director: Mary Lambert An insurance investigator begins discovering that the impact a horror writer's books have on his fans is more than inspirational. Director: John Carpenter A drifter discovers a pair of sunglasses that allow him to wake up to the fact that aliens have taken over the Earth.

Director: John Carpenter An All-American trucker gets dragged into a centuries-old mystical battle in Chinatown. Director: John Carpenter Snake Plissken is once again called in by the United States government to recover a potential doomsday device from Los Angeles, now an autonomous island where undesirables are deported. Director: John Carpenter Edit Storyline In 1957, in Detroit, a red Plymouth Fury is built and is the cause of two accidents, one of them fatal, still in the assembly line. Twenty-one years later, the outcast and bullied nerd Arnold "Arnie" Cunningham is getting a ride with his best and only friend Dennis Guilder and he sees the wrecked car for sale in a garden. Arnie immediately falls in love with the car. The car was given the name Christine by it's first owner. He brings the car to a repair shop of the despicable Will Darnell and works hard to restore the classic car. While he works in the restoration, he changes his personality to a cocky teenager and he dates the most beautiful girl in the high-school, Leigh Cabot. Soon Arnie becomes selfish and jealous of the supernatural Christine that kills everyone that is a threat to them. Written by Mitchell McCreath.

See All (130) » Taglines: She was born bad. Plain and simple. Somewhere deep on a darkened assembly line. Christine. A '58 Plymouth Fury possessed by Hell. She's taken control of her teenage owner, Arnie. Her previous owner is not alive to warn him. And now she's steering straight for the one person in her way. Arnie's girlfriend, Leigh. The other woman. See more » Genres: 9 December 1983 (USA) See more » Also Known As: John Carpenter's Christine See more » Filming Locations: Did You Know? Trivia The characters Arnold (Arnie) Cunningham and Roland Lebay first names contain exactly the same letters. See more » Goofs The spot on Dennis's sweatshirt from being grabbed by Moochie during lunch is still moist that night while at the Cunningham house. See more » Quotes In the opening credits when the titles are appearing, Christine's engine can be heard. See more » Connections Courtesy of MCA Records, Inc. MPI Communications, Inc. & Wren Music Co. (United Kingdom) – See all my reviews Remember when you were young and movies where your only friend?

Well such is a case in point when it comes to John Carpenter's "Christine" Now as a rule, and a longstanding one at that, I could never read a Stephen King novel but i could always find time to watch an adaptation of the same, if and when it either came to video as was the thing before the wonders of DVD or if it arrived at the local cinema. My personal highlights from the Stephen King Oeuvre are "Silver Bullet" if only to see the likes of Gary Busey and Everitt McGill ham it up beyond the call of duty. Stanley Kubrick's version of "The Shining" complete with a knockout performance from the maestro of barnstorming himself Mr Jack Nicholson, as we already know there have been so many translations from page to screen of everything and anything the king of horror writing has penned some good, some not so good. However, when it comes to "Christine" it was pitch perfect in every way, shape and form. Directed by John Carpenter, who has been hit and miss down through the years.

A wonderful array of golden oldie classics playing throughout the movie itself, a truly wonderful script written by Bill Phillips, containing many a gem which still lingers in the mind even to this day. Which leads me finally to the actors, casting down to a tee, and as i said ably assisted by a good script, well drawn characters, of course from the mind of Stephen King, but brought to vivid life by the likes of Robert Prosky who appears as the junkyard owner Will Darnell, a true standout in the whole movie. Why even Roberts Blossom, think all the way back to Bob Clarks's take on Ed Gein "Deranged" the man still lends a sense of deadly menace to his character, even though his role is primarily a cameo role but in fairness quite pivotal in terms of progressing the story. However, those two being character parts, we need to see the story unfolds.

We begin in prologue fashion, as we see upon fade in, superimposed, the year is 1957, We see a car assembly line, all the new cars are being overseen and given the once over by the foreman, from a distance we get our first glance of how beautiful and intoxicating "Christine" the car is to look at. Of course that illusion is soon shattered when firstly a foreman shatters his hand, then one of the workers decides to take a little rest and relaxation in the front seat, all the while smoking his cigar, when ash from the cigar drops onto the plastic covering, so it begins, and the true nature of "Christine is revealed. Flash forward to present day and we see Arnie Cunningham the nerdish lead character played with aplomb by Keith Gordon, who would later go on to direct the really excellent "The Chocolate War" as well as many more. However when it comes to acting, Keith Gordon would never better what he had done prior to this or even after.

We have all at one point, either been or have known someone like Arnie Cunningham, perennial book worm, not exactly a ladies man, but when he catches first glimpse of the wreck that will forever alter his very being, It is at that point we see that compulsion leads to obsession when Arnie falls under the spell of that 1958 Plymouth Fury. Watch as Arnie emerges from his shell, argues with his parents, something that he would never have done or even finds his first and last girlfriend. All this achieved upon the influence and presence of what would appear to be a car, but for teenager Arnie, it represents his first steps towards independence, but underneath the surface of it all we already know the motive and inevitable end. With wonderful turns by William Ostrader as chief bully Buddy Reperton and Malcolm Danare as Moochie, along with John Stockwell as Arnie's only friend Dennis and Alexandra Paul long before she donned the lifeguard bikini for Baywatch as Arnie's suffering girlfriend Lee. Watch and be amazed, time has not taken it's toll on John Carpenter's finest hour. 50 of 59 people found this review helpful. Was this review helpful to you?

Yes Christine: Amazon.co.uk: Stephen King: 9781444720709: Books By marjorie narey on 3 Feb. 2011 Format: Paperback My son who is Autistic (he has Asperger's Syndrome) carried this book around with him throughout his teenage years, most everywhere he went. I remember we replaced it a time or two with a new book when the old one started falling to bits! He may even have a copy to this day. I was always amused as to why this book was so important to him, his fixation with it. And although I was familiar with the story and the film, I could never see why it was so special to him. Well, I never did really find out and so had to draw the conclusion that the fuss was about a car with a girls name. Anyways, I have just read the book myself and I have to say I thought that it was just great. Okay, maybe a little long before any action really gets going, but at the end of the book I realised that every word is necessary if you are to fully appreciate the toxic atmosphere behind the story. Christine, the car herself, brings mixed emotions.

You love her and you hate her at the same time, even through the murderous rampages. Stephen King brings her to life on the pages of his book and you feel the need to see her, to touch her, to let your fingers trail along her shimmering body work. You almost feel like running out of the way when she revs her engine and leaps forward - for this is a car like no other. I got a perverse pleasure at the end of the book. Analyse that! Yep I loved it. Only Stephen King can lead me through page after page of dry text, (eg, his description of a high school football game,) and I manage to get a thrill out of it. Quality stuff. Very enjoyable.

Question: In the Stephen King book 'Christine', who or what is Christine?
Answer: A car